


Venom

by intheheart



Series: Nirwen Lavellan [8]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Blood, F/M, Nightmares, snake - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-03
Updated: 2015-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-18 19:28:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4717742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intheheart/pseuds/intheheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inquisitor Nirwen Lavellan, is asleep and dreaming. Her dream rapidly turns into a nightmare. Solas, next to her, is alerted to her distress.</p>
<p>I think my feelings over the Trespasser trailer, combined with residual ideas made this happen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Venom

Sun across their shoulders, Nirwen and Elathyn sit, cross-legged, in the grass near the river, which offers the slightest respite from the steamy heat that was, at not even midday, going to be long to dissipate. Ela pushes the blue cloth tied about her neck up to her face, her soft green eyes squinting slightly at Nirwen, who watches reflected rings from the water circle the trees in arcs of light.

“I think we will be bonded, Taerellan and I. Not yet, we have not decided, but maybe once you return and we're in our new settlement....” Ela's voice trails off, eyes closed, and a smile spreads across her face, giving the rest away.

“Ela! At least I am taking Taerellan on this journey so you can't celebrate without me. My sister, with our clan's First. Our parents will bestow all the pride they have, especially since their eldest has been such a disappointment.” Elathyn, used to this, playfully slaps her sister's hand away.

“Never a disappointment, sister. You have done so much for us all.” Her eyes trace the lines of Mythal's vallaslin on Nirwen's face. The Mother. The choice sometimes still earned an askew glance at her lack of children.“You will watch over Tae, won't you, Nirwen?”

“I will.” Nirwen leans back on her elbows, hands upon the ground. “Though he is a highly capable mage, dear Ela. I think he might need the lesser of the prote—ow!” Flinching, pulling her palm up almost in slow motion, the snake with its fangs embedded in her left palm hangs freely. Right arm drops to her side for a dagger that isn't there. It wriggles, steadfast, as she then tries to yank it away. The river, the sun, both receding as Ela's voice grows ever distant. The snake's venom warms her from the inside out, a cool sweat upon her brow, her throat shut, lungs empty. Her sister remains jovial, laughing and chatting as she slips out of focus. Nirwen's thoughts, slowed in syrupy, warm haze, thrust all effort at one leap. “Ela, I..help...”.

_My eyes are open,_ she realizes after some time _._ Nirwen slowly blinks back into focus. The trees, motionless, barely discernible in the lack of wind, the air flat and heavy, these woods unfamiliar. Is there a sky? Pain creeps up her arm, but she takes measured breaths. Too deep and she could feel her chest tighten. The snake is gone. Yet so is the light and all traces of Elathyn. Ignoring the pain, she stirs, comes to her knees, then attempts to stand. Her right hand catches a tree she can't see as she stumbles. Steadied, she listens for a moment, yet no sounds come to her ear. _What is this blackest night?_ she wonders in her head.

“ _A release_ ”, responds a whisper, one that sinks into the dense air as it emerges. Was it voiced at all? What is up, or down, was this a place, a Void, a death?

She takes several tentative steps. A faint green light flashes in the distance. Suddenly, high pitched sounds tear through the air. She rapidly claps her hands to her ears and drops back to her knees as the pain sears through her arm once more. She grimaces, wants to scream, takes gasping breaths.

“No no no no no”, she thinks.“Not here.” Grateful for the lack of light now, she senses the eyes out there, staring, rapidly closing in. A green light again, this time from the warmth inside, the blood traveling rapidly through her, the air she guarded, the thing that may have been hope. The green light, in seconds, consumes her, emanating outward, yet not illuminating the forest around. An implosion, then all is gone.

A sunbeam bores through her slitted eyes into the back of her head, which is thick and gauzy with fever. To close her eyes, to sink down again, into whatever awaits, tempts relief. A release. Every step, weighted, eyelids swollen and heavy. She calls out to an empty Skyhold garden. Fragrant herbs drift, mixing sweetly on the air. The elfroot might help. _Yes, elfroot, relief, close my eyes again, step....step....open your eyes, Nirwen, this, you have to stay, help._ Her whole left side throbbed now. Her arm was going numb. The venom, the heat, had spread throughout, this fever, this release consuming her. She reaches an open door, the cool hall behind beckons. _It's a good place to crumble_ , she thinks. Opening her eyes, she sees emptiness, room spinning and sliding in and out of her view. Thoughts still stir, in between heartbeats, in between throbs, the steps she continues to force herself to take. There is something here, this emptiness, this couldn't be all, right? A release, you promised. She trips through a doorway, landing in a hard sprawl.

The snowflakes in a deserted Val Royeaux are small, but numerous, dense, and with no signs of letting up. This time, however, there is air. She breathes in snow and sharp wind that make her lungs ache. The sensation begins in her right hand this time. Just a finger, two fingers, her head still pounding but everything a duality. Steps, one, two....one.....two. Just further. She shakes out her right hand to no avail. The fever, the venom trail through her like tendrils; she burns. Ascending her right arm, feeling as if the snow upon her skin is being absorbed, crystallizing, sharp, so cold it begins to match the burning elsewhere but it changes, stiffens her motion, deterring further steps. She closes her eyes. It would be easy to fall, feel nothing, be consumed by the fire or the ice; there was little difference now. Nirwen pauses, can hardly open her eyes. The burning, the venom, it flares, makes her heart pound again. Not to be overcome, the icy crawl feels embedded in her skin, another invader in her veins, slowing her heartbeat and making her shiver. Each side winning, each side threatening. Is this release? The burning poison or the cold, vision spinning, lost to vertigo.

But there is something else now.

_No._

Her missing dagger. Hot, thick, envenomed blood seeps from its place in her chest. Heart slowing its beat around the forged metal.

_Is this release?_

Solas watches as Nirwen buckles and falls, senseless.

Her thrashing in bed had alerted him. He had watched over her, carefully, pushing her hair from her face when she broke into a cold sweat. Nirwen's residual nightmares still happened now and then, and it was sometimes of benefit to simply let them run their course, especially if it seemed she would not recall them without interruption. Her muffled, yet agonized screaming let him know this was a more severe occasion.

“Vhenan,” he says as he goes to her side in the Fade. “You must wake up.”

***

Nirwen gasps, her eyes open, hands flying to her chest, frantically searching. Solas, beside her, pulls her toward him, taking her, hyperventilating and shaking, into his embrace. After several quiet moments, he feels the warmth of her silent tears as her breaths begin to slow, still hitching at times, but marking her return to this world, to a clarity. Her mark sparks, but she gives no notice, head still pressed to his shoulder. She pulls back, wiping her eyes.

“I...” She places a hand over her heart, as if willing it to slow or making sure it was still there, or both. “I don't understand. The nightmare, it was so vivid. I was...I felt myself dying.”

“I know. Yet, Nirwen, you live. We are here at Skyhold, you are whole, and the sun will rise again in an hour. Your journey is not yet ended.”

“You were there when death nearly claimed me before. I wonder if it means something, dreaming of a lingering poison. If I have been spared for just so long. There is still so much about this,” she puts her left palm up, “ that we don't understand.” Solas takes her hand, kissing her fingers. “I'm glad you were here,” she looks into his eyes and attempts a hesitant smile. “I'm scared,” she whispers. “But I have so much to do. This stays between us.”

Good, her resolve is returning, he notes.

“Will you sleep again, or would you await the sunrise with me?”

“I won't give sleep another chance to kill me tonight. Just...stay close.” She takes his hand, linking her fingers with his long ones, tension still present in her clipped movements and nervous giggle. She leans her head on his shoulder with a deep sigh as he pulls her closer.

 


End file.
